Jim,

Officials admit that THE FDIC bank fund is to stay in the red until 2012.

They are rather optimistic, evaluating bank failure costs to reach only $100 billion over the next four years.

Best regards,
Christopher

FDIC bank fund in the red until 2012
Even as regulators try to replenish deposit insurance fund, it will be over two years before it boasts a positive balance, warns agency chief.
October 14, 2009: 3:48 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The government insurance fund designed to protect consumer bank deposits will likely stay in the red through 2012, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chief Sheila Bair said Wednesday.

Testifying before members of the Senate Banking Committee, the nation’s top commercial bank regulator stressed that her agency was taking immediate steps to replenish the dwindling fund. But she said those efforts would not put the rescue fund in the black until a little more than two years from now at the earliest.

The fund has come under severe strain in recent months amid the recent surge in bank failures. Ninety-eight banks have failed so far this year, which has reduced the fund’s value to $10 billion from $45 billion a year ago.

Last month, the agency painted an even more dire picture, estimating that the fund is currently in the red after taking into account future bank failures it anticipates will happen.

More… ^[1]

Jim,

The SLBI appears to be tracing out a head and shoulders pattern, with a resolution possible between February and March 2010.

CIGA Eric

Click chart to enlarge in PDF format

^[2]